Middlesbrough 2-1 Bristol City: Goals from Uche Ikpeazu and Matt Crooks earn Boro first win
- Published
- comments
Uche Ikpeazu celebrates his first goal for Middlesbrough
Debut goals from Uche Ikpeazu and Matt Crooks earned Middlesbrough a first league win of the season, as they beat Bristol City at the Riverside.
Summer signing Ikpeazu opened the scoring for Boro in the first half, before Andy King drew City level on the hour mark.
But Crooks, also a new arrival this transfer window from Rotherham, put his side back in the lead 10 minutes later with a simple tap-in from a Paddy McNair free-kick.
For Bristol City manager Nigel Pearson, it was a disappointing return to the Riverside and the team he successfully spent four years with as a player during the 1990s. His team are now without a win in 13 matches, going back to last season.
Middlesbrough controlled the first half and deservedly took the lead after 38 minutes, with almost all of the action taking place in City's half of the pitch.
Djed Spence headed wide, Crooks couldn't quite get behind a shot that was comfortably saved, Ikpeazu sent a low shot past the post, while City didn't record a shot on target.
Ikpeazu, 26, who joined from Wycombe Wanderers in July, then slotted in following an excellent run down the left by Isaiah Jones.
The Robins saw momentum swing their way in the second half, and Kasey Palmer took their best chance just before the hour mark, with a right-footed shot that went narrowly wide.
Minutes later King combined with his former Leicester team-mate Matty James to equalise, heading in his first goal from James' free-kick.
Yet Crooks quickly put Neil Warnock's side back into the lead.
With the clock creeping into injury time, City fought for a late equaliser but Andreas Weimann's header bounced on to the top netting and James sent a shot wide.
The match also saw a late appearance by Sol Bamba, who was brought on by Warnock in the 95th minute after recently joining in a player/coach role. It marked his first minutes playing in the league since recovering from cancer in May.
Middlesbrough manager Neil Warnock told BBC Radio Tees:
"I've never heard noise like it, the fans were amazing. I went to clap them at the end and I started clapping one place then I realised they were everywhere around the ground. It was great, different people. They've come to the game tonight, they've enjoyed it and they've really rallied us on.
"I thought at 1-1 they got behind us and we could have gone under then and we didn't, we rose again and got the winning goal. From then on I thought we were in control, because I thought the fans, like I say, they were amazing.
"We lost Tavernier and Duncan Watmore in the last 48 hours and they're blows to us, they're two major players in our squad. We haven't got a big squad. End of last season, we've lost [Yannick] Bolasie, [Neeskens] Kebano, [Nathaniel] Mendez-Laing, [Hayden] Coulson, Marvin Johnson and we've got Isaiah Jones - when you look at it like that, all credit to the boys."
Bristol City manager Nigel Pearson told BBC Radio Bristol:
"Of course, frustration is a word that I would definitely use, but the three goals that we've conceded in the league have all been from within the six-yard box. Their winner - it's just not the type of defending I would expect from any of our players, forwards or defenders.
"It's careless. I thought we were too careless today. We had the ball a lot of the time and didn't do a lot with it because players just turned down the opportunity to be positive. Whatever we keep losing games like this it just builds more anxiety on people. I want to see people showing absolute commitment.
"I said to the players at half time, two words I would use to describe the first half would be comfortable, and careless because that's what it amounted to. We weren't really opened up during the game, we knew they were going to be a set-play side and wow. So it is frustrating.
"But I'm not going to dwell on the negatives, I'm just gonna make sure that hopefully the team selection for the next game will get us over the line. And as I've already pointed out, if you're in the team you've got to work hard to stay in the team. And so you know, that's not a veiled threat it's just an observation that we are better than what we've shown today."